Trip Around The World Quilts

The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles show Scrap Art featured 3 Trip Around The World quilts.
I am always amazed at the patience of artists who often hand pieced and hand quilted thousands upon thousands of tiny squares.

Trip Around The World is a classic design. It usually starts with one square in the middle, and then row after row of additional colors are added diagonally.
Trip Around The World
c. 1930
hand pieced and hand quilted
81" X 88"
Collection of Julie Silber and Jean Demeter
The Quilt Complex

Details about this quilt:
"We see a significant spike in popularity of this traditional quilt design in the second and third quarters of the 20th century. During hard economic times, larger pieces of fabric were unaffordable to most. Perhaps because this design accommodates a variety of prints, organized by color, a woman could use her left-over sewing scraps to crate an overall cohesive design. This example is distinguished by its many pieces, precise piecing, and skillful hand quilting. It was collected in Michigan"

You can see how each square was carefully hand quilted.

Minnie Kesler Murray

Trip Around The World 1970-1980

70" X 90"

Collection of Evelyn McMillan

"Minnie Kesler Murray, a native of Boones Mill, Virginia, was a resident of San Jose during the 1950's and the 1960's. When she and her husband, Lloyd Murray, retired they moved back to Boones Mill where Minnie became active in the local quilting group. She died in 2007 at the age of 102. This Trip Around The World hand-pieced quilt, made up of approximately 14,000 postage stamp sized squares, was the quilt she made for herself- her masterpiece."

I love the brightness of the colors.

Even with the busyness of each print they stand out with contrast.

Nicely designed finish.

Unknown

One Patch Trip Around The World c.1900

Hand Pieced top

77.5" X 63"

Collection of San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles

2009.400

Gift of Leslie Coe

More of a use of darker colors, with black offering the contrast.

In our day we use rotary cutters and the strip piece method to assemble this pattern.

In the 1900's when this quilt was made, I surmise that each piece was cut by hand with scissors, and then individually sewn together.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these Trip Around The World quilts as much as I did.

Do you have a favorite out of the 3?

I may be crazy, but someday I would like to give one of these a try.